Iowa Statesmen to perform in Perry

Thursday

Feb 9, 2017 at 12:01 AM

Submitted to The Chief

Perry Fine Arts will be sponsoring Iowa Statesmen in a program of music as they perform on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 at 7 p.m. in Perry High School’s Performing Arts Center located at 1200 18th St, Perry, Iowa. (Please note the change of day and time from our usual performances.)

The Iowa Statesmen, Iowa State’s popular men’s choir, was formed by its conductor, Dr. James Rodde, in 2000. The choir specializes in the performance of traditional and contemporary male chorus literature. The group has an annual membership of 150 singers, of which 95% are non-music majors. Virtually every college and academic discipline in the University is represented in the choir. The choir’s mission is to give each of its members the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of singing together, to develop an awareness of healthy vocal production, and to promote participation in choral music.

The Statesmen tour regionally every year and in 2006 performed at the IMC National Convention in Eau Claire, Wisc. In addition to their own concerts, the group joins the other Iowa State choirs annually for the Holiday Concert in December and the Masterworks Concert in April, where this year they will sing the Mozart Requiem, Levin edition.

James Rodde, Endowed Chair and Director of Choral Activities at Iowa State University, Ames, conducts the Iowa State Singers, the 150-voice Iowa Statesmen, teaches choral conducting and literature, and oversees a program of roughly 400 undergraduate choristers. His choirs have toured internationally and have been honored with performances at five ACDA and two NCCO national conferences. An active clinician, he has led numerous festival ensembles, including more than a dozen All-State and divisional ACDA honor choirs. This March he will conduct the Mississippi All-State Choir. Beyond his university duties, Dr. Rodde is the Artistic Director of the Des Moines Choral Society. For more than a decade he served ACDA as the North Central R&S Chair for Men’s Choirs, and he continues to edit and arrange choral music, with a number of published works.

The program in Perry will include a variety of compositions and arrangements by Copland, Lauridsen, Stroope, Wilberg, Richard Burchard, Stephen Chatman, Joseph Martin, and others.